Snooker table dismantling, transportation and relocation – use GCL Billiards for this specialist service

We are getting a lot of inquiries to remove full size snooker tables and just getting rid of them , TAKE THEM AWAY FREE people say , this is not a FREE SERVICE I’m afraid , two fitters wages van use Fuel insurances all have to be paid for .
We offer a recycling service at a cost of removing , but we have to take the table all apart and remove all none recycling waste from it, cloth rubber metal tacks screws and bolts all have to be removed for our recycler to take the wood away , the slate is also recycled into fire places , but these have to be polished cut to size to make into a fireplace .
the cost to remove a table and recycle is down to distance , BUT please note we do not now take tables up or down stairs , we only remove Ground floor tables with no more than a couple of steps involved which we can ramp .
We used to do the stair work but as you get older this has become too much for us .
We are both in our 60’s now .

I came out of the Army in the year of 1976 , and started to work for my uncle’s firm Trent Valley Pool & Snooker tables Leisure firm in Chettles industrial Estate and office on lincoln Street basford .
I worked alongside my cousin Gary Hume and A sub contract billiard fitter called Mick Robb who had a firm called Belvoir billiards .
I stayed at Trent Valley Leisure for 4 years , then on advice from Mick Robb , I left and moved to Elston & Hopkin of Goldsmith Street Nottingham .
although I still did a bit of work for my Uncle Ron and cousin Gary over the years while I worked for Elston & Hopkin , mainly at weekends or evenings
and my boss at Elston & Hopkin did knew that I helped them out now and again . although their work and sales where nationwide and E&H where local east midlands mainly very little outside a 50 to 80 mile radius
.so no conflict of interest .
John hopkin was a very good Employer and Boss .

In 1980 Elston & hopkin where just being relocated from the very old Empire Theatre Building on goldsmith Street Nottingham where they had a billiard hall and a very fine fitted out Solid Mahogany sales counter for billiard table spares . cue sales and so on .
I also got married in 1980 to my Wife Carol , who I am happy to say we are still together after 39 years of marriage and have two Daughters Helen and Kimberley and in 2018 our first Grand child Emily arrived .~
Sorry no Boys to carry on the business .
Elston & hopkin moved into a workshop on Canal Street , also now demolished , and then into the Newark Street premises from 1980 .
having a 18 table billiard hall , office and workshop on the top floor .
of Davisella house right on the corner of Newark street & Manvers Street .
Elston & hopkin moved out in the early 2000s and sold out to Universal logic in 2004 , I went with the firm to work out of a warehouse in Gainsborough Lincolnshire for the next 7 years .
I look back on the 43 years I have been working as a Billiards fitter .
I have learnt from everyone around me from my Uncles firm and Gary Hume to Mick Robb who was a big influence in my work , to Roger Perczynski and Alan Pykett at Elston & hopkin .
I also learnt a bit of Computer presentation and promotion from my last boss Ted Roberts .
I have had my ups and downs , but became self employed in May 2012 when I had started GCL billiards .


I have met some characters , and worked for some very famous people , as you can imagine it is not everyone who has a room for a full size billiard table , and most celebs and sports personalities do at sometime in their life have ownership or inherit through a house sale a full size table .
But I get as much satisfaction working for normal working folk like myself as I do the high society and famous clientele .
I look upon myself as the Caretaker in my time period of the billiard tables I work on .
I am now approaching 65 years of age , and starting to feel the aches and pains of fitting such heavy tables .
a bit of arthritis , a bad knee joint from my football days , and the normal getting old feeling that you feel creeping up on you .
To the point that upstairs locations are now null and void and no go areas .
let the younger fitters lift slate upstairs or into a basement .
So I do not do this type of heavy lifting anymore , one bad job could put me off work for a long time so why risk it , just ground floor to ground floor locations and the van loading if I wish to carry on to my 70’s
I do not know how long I will be doing this line of work , but I do aim to get to 70 years old at least full time .
So at least another 5 years and two months to go yet .
HEALTH PERMITTING of course .
and maybe do 3 days a week then 2 days a week until retirement , but it is not unusual for 80 year old fitters to still be fitting tables and doing Re-cloths , At Elston and Hopkin they had an old fitter called Joe doing it until he was 80 odd years old .
he fully retired just before I started there .

We do not own a snooker or pool club , but if you do require to find a club to play local to us , try Stapleford cue Club they are the closest snooker club to me 2 mile down the road .
Stapleford Cue club is situated at
148 Derby Road behind the pizza hut take away .
Stapleford
Nottingham.
NG9 7AY
tel 01159 394 504

if you are very close to Derby then try
Cueball
under rollerworld access to right in carpark
Derby DE21 4AW
tel 01332 360924

other side of Nottingham then try
Newark cue club
41 Barker Gate
NG24 1UA
tel 01636 612030

I get many phone calls asking if we are open to book a table to play on ?
We are not advertised as a snooker club , we are a Billiards /Snooker / Pool table or as a collective a Cue sports table MAINTENANCE company
This means we work on tables repairing or maintaining them .
our other business is long term contract of coin operated pool table hire to pubs and clubs we do not own our own club .
I am sorry to say it is getting beyond a joke at how many people phone us up sometimes at 12 to 2am in the morning and Today ( Christmas Day ) of all days to ask what time we shut or are we open today.
we suspect these are Taxi Drivers knocking off work or taking a break and wanting somewhere to play snooker or pool .
I do not know of any all nighter snooker clubs most close at 12pm at the latest .

but just to refresh what we are about .

This is what we do

If you require to book a table try Stapleford cue club they are the closest snooker/pool club to me
AND THIS WHAT A SNOOKER CLUB LOOKS LIKE

stapleford cue club

Cueball in Derby pool room and plenty of full size snooker tables

Newark cue club 41 Carter gate Newark Nottinghamshire NG24 1UA ………….tel 01636 612030 for booking to play on pool and snooker tables .

Hunters Bar Grantham 1 Union Street , Grantham next to lidl’s , NG31 6NZ……………… tel 01476 579493
Hunters bar has 7 UK pool , 4 american pool , and 6 full size snooker tables to play on .

Table is based in the Gloucester Area
9ft snooker table in solid oak , large bulbous fluted legs , very expensive when bought new .
For sale at a Bargain price as it stands on site at £1500 .

Please note this does not include delivery and fitting , this is a private sale from a selling client direct .
if you wished GCL Billiards would be happy to quote the Collection dismantle and loading , the traveling and delivery , unloading set up and cloth refitting ready for play .
GCL Billiards in Geoff Large has 50 years personal fitting expierience , so you can be assured of a first class workmanship , from a time served apprenticship .

Please contact Geoff at GCL Billiards for further information … ( please note I am on holiday for the next two weeks back on September the 3rd . )
this was a last minute advert put on the day before my Holiday .
but please email so you are first in line for this table for when I get back ..first come first served .

Table will come with Balls and cue rack and scorebaord and brush only .

Contact Geoff for more details . c.large@btinternet.com

We have a client who wishes to purchase a full size Burroughs and watts snooker table
Condition is everything , so the asking price may vary depending on what you have for sale
and what is included with it .

Tables like the following is what my client is after

We have a client who is selling all her billiard room equipment separately from the table .
please look at other items listed in this bundled together package

Here we have a very nice tall pedestal rotating cue rack , I think 7 cues per side and there are three sides , so this rack will take 21 cues , a very nice piece of billiard room equipment to display your cue collection .
There is also 4 machine period spliced Burroughs and watts cues , and a couple of other cues a Raper and a Thurston , both old cues but have been used as a x rest .
And to complete this bundle we have a very nice period Victorian framed in glass rules by Burroughs & Watts

A smaller modern repro Chinese round standing rack is £600 at john parrots sport shop on line , why buy a low cost one at that price when this one is just a bit more , have a look just compare the quality
also on a Southern Billiards site is a cue rack that is almost identical in age and design to this for sale at £1200 .
I value the cue rack at £750 alone , the period framed B&W rules at £200 , the cues at £120 = £1070.00p

ALL REDUCED TO JUST £600 for all items

I have sold all the other equipment for this client including her table scoreboard and other cues .

So all that remains are these items which we have bundled together for just £600 the lot .for a Bargain come and get me price , to be collected from Pontesbury Shropshire near Shrewsbury .

all that you see below photos advertised in listing is in this bundle , the lighting shade too if still there .

We have a returning client , the last time I did work for him 12 years ago , it was to rectify a badly made imported 8ft Snooker diner
and take the badly designed raise and fall click clack riley system off , and replace it with a fixed height sub frame .
with adjustable cross bearers for ease of leveling .
Today it was to a new build Bungalow he had just built , and install a proper made Thurston 10ft .
and re-cloth and fit new nets and leathers .

First a link to his old 8ft snooker diner table job I did in February 2014 , that just had glued on cross member planks which fell off .and balls rolled to middle as the centre of the slate was not supported on its long span with no anti bow beams , not built strong enough to support the lentgh of slate to stop sagging .
I suspect it was made in China and sold by a UK firm up North in the Preston area , as their own UK made one .
it was a terrible design , and one I have come across often .
and there is not fix unless it is completley rebuilt with anti bow beams and proper mortice and tennon screwed to slate sub frame , a costly back to factory or workshop fix , so the fixed upper sub frame to fill in gap was the low cost option of sorting it . for playing at least , which to my client was the main thing he wanted as the lowered dining part was only used at christmas .

https://gclbilliards.com/fixed-height-subframe-fitted-to-poor-designed-dual-lifting-snooker-dining-table/

here are the photos of his new 10ft table in his new Home .
A much better made table , UK made italian slate , and the best Brazillian mahogany used in its construction .
it also had adjustable slate bearer muntins to stop any risk of sagging slate across its width .
The slates where also hand floated from new .
A sign of extra quality , on a modern built table from 1990s onwards .

BT due to suspicous traffic had locked me out of my emails and shut it down for the past week as a safe guard .
I had been away on Holiday and someone had took that opportunity to try and take over my emails while I was away .
I am pleased to say , BT where on the ball and stopped it , it has been a bit stressfull not being able to read my emails this past week , and I have now replied to all outstanding emails and inquiries .

Steps have been taken with increased security measures for cyber phishing .

This table was bought for just £500 off our web site page and then had a lot of money spent on it fully renovating it .
The frame was stripped and polished by a third party polisher , but all the other work of dismantle loading transporting setting up
plus re-rubber , Re-clothing , new nets an leathers and ball rails where carried out by GCL Billiards

Just look at the finished table , this is one of the best tables I have worked on , to find an untouched unmolested private owned table , with woodwork in very good order is very rare .

From the border of Wales to Derbyshire , we collected and installed the table
here are a photo by photo of the work carried out .

Here is the table before collection from near Shrewsbury , from our selling client Jackie for just £500 as it stands .
The table was made approx. 1947/48 and has steel cushions and note the old billiard ball pocket nets .

Date on rubber is 547 = May 1947
The original rubber manufactured date , this dates the table to around that time period just after World war 2 .

cushions stripped of cloth and rubber , and set to the slate , rubber is ready to be glued
note new pocket plate templates , made especially for us with our own GCL Billiards logo on them to WPBSA 3.3/8th 2005/6 standards

Rubber has been fitted and cut to new middle template nice and snug .

The corner pocket also cut nice and snug to new templates

cloth on bed ready to go on and be fitted . Hainsworth Match .

Bed cloth part fitted middle falls down ready to pull out from 4 corners .

The bed cloth fitted and marked out and ironed , and the steel professional grade cushions set to receive the cushion frieze’s , once bolted up .

The finished table , ready for play .

Both centre and corner templates showing snug fir to WPBSA standard

Centre pocket template .

Corner pocket template

Original Burroughs & Watts Fitted with Steel Vacuum Cushion End plate , 19 Soho Square London .

GCL Billiards end cushion plate to show who re-rubbered it . We call this the re-rubber plate , or table set up plate .
People often get confused when they find a name plate on the end of a cushion and think they made the table .
always check both ends of a table , and also ask on a Billiards forum website who the table was manufactured by .
Seen many a Burroughs & Watts arrowflite re-rubber badge on the end of say a Thurston or Orme & sons table and people often get confused as to who manufactured the table .

and our client bought his own professional grade table lighting
Now taking everything into consideration a new star or Riley Aristocrat table with steel cushions today would come in at £13000
Our client used mainly GCL Billiards to work on the table apart from the polishing which was done locally to our owner to a very high standard , and I will be asking for his details to pass on to other clients wishing for high class work of polishing .
which on its own came in at around £1500 alone to strip and polish including collection and delivery back to site .

The re-rubber / Re-clothing in Match grade cloth / new peradon leathers and nets , plus ball rails , the lighting unit , brush iron and a few accessories and balls made a grand total for the whole project to come in at a round £5500 .
The quality of this table is far superior than a modern Chinese Star or UK made Riley Arsitocrat or even a BCE Westbury .

The quality is there to be seen , just look at the flame mahogany in the cushion capping’s

The size of the solid mahogany bulbous 10 to 11 inch turned Tulip carved legs , some may say why have this high quality mahogany leg sprayed silver ,
The Young player is of a modern era , tables now come with legs and trims in gold , silver bronze or even reconstituted stone marble or resin legs .
He will be playing mainly on gold and silver legged tables in star and riley tables , this gives him the quality of a period made higher quality wood but with a modern twist .

these are 10 inch turned legs down from around 11 inch , riley and star in comparison start with an 8 inch block and end up at around 7 inch turned legs .

The rigidus frame is unique to Burroughs and watts

Center Leg Spacing: Unlike conventional billiard tables, the Rigidus frame features central legs that are positioned closer together. This specific geometry was engineered to distribute the massive weight of the slate bed evenly and prevent the heavy timber from warping or bowing over time. [1, 2]
Frame Rigidity: The reinforced frame acts as a rigid, monolithic foundation. It absorbs the impact of heavy match-grade balls and ensures the slate remains perfectly level for professional play. [1, 2]
Premium Materials: Tables built with this frame—dating predominantly from the early to mid-20th century—were often crafted from dense, heavy woods like Cuban or South American mahogany and oak. They were frequently paired with the brand’s famous steel-block cushions for the ultimate bounce and

again superb quality of wood used in the manufacture of this table

All cut to pro size pockets for an up and coming young player who wishes to step one more rung up the ladder to becoming a professional player .
A local Derbyshire Lad … look out for him his name is Kai Hopkins .
A big thankyou to his Mother and Father in putting their trust in GCL Billiards to not only source a table for them at a very reasonable price , but to get it up to pro standard for their son by collecting and fully fitting as you see above .
They have put a lot of sacrifice in a house move and financially in getting this table and an large extension on the new house for their son to make that step further up the ladder to becoming a pro player .

Health risk of breathing in mould spores

Due to me breathing in mould spores from a re-cloth on a pool table last week , I am now laid up with a very bad chest infection and sore throat , also my kidneys ache .
I do not know how long this is going to affect me , but for now I have a cancelled a few jobs this week and rearranged the work for later on ., this gives me a few more days to fight this infection off .
I will not now be doing any table work on such bad spore growth mould on tables .
and I think it is on the owners of such tables to clean them up before arrival and spray anti mould spray on them , removing all cloth that is affected .

We have a very nice oak finish Optima Monaco pool table for sale from a private house in Edinburgh Scotland
the buyer would have to arrange to collect and dismantle themselves , and the table has to come downstairs but the good news is , it all comes apart .
lid up slate out , thin line body , and 4 bolt off legs .
I will put any buyer int ouch with our private seller , who is moving house , and is now selling the table .
I have looked at how much these Optima Monaco tables are now and they are a top range table with a price range of £1915 to £2034 at liberty Games .
I have advised our buyer that some may decide to have the table re-clothed others will make do with it as it is for a year or so .
the pool table comes with a good range of accessories .
The table if on the ground floor would be worth close to £1000 , so our guide price of £650 just for a stairs problem is very good value , some may be able to fit a slide U channel to the slate , a few blankets or a strip of old carpet and you would be able to slide the slate down bit by bit in a controlled fashion with ease .
This is how a professional fitting firm may do it and I will show photos of that with a full size table slate section which is much heavier .

Any way priced to sell quick at just £650 which is a Bargain for one of these tables .
I only sold one of these the other month with a re-cloth at £1350 , if it was closer I would have had it myself .

This last photo shows a two inch thick piece of slate with a U section slide strapped to it and behind you can see the strip of carpet we put on the stairs to slide this down bit by bit .
The same method could be used if you made a U channel to strap tot he pool slate which is 1/2 the weight of this snooker slab section .
a pool slate is 5/8th thick , the snooker slate is 2 inch thick .

Please contact Geoff at GCL Billiards , and I will put you in touch with the owner in Scotland .
This is ideal for someone up that end of the Country , most for sale are right down south .
There area few table fitting firms in Scotland who may quote you to bring this table downstairs and deliver it to a ground floor .
I do have a couple of contacts up there including Scott Mcintosh and Tayside Snooker .

Ball sets include a snooker set / pool set / cue rack / scoreboard / Brush / triangle / and 4 cues .